# Hyundai Kona Electric

18 Hacker News commenters recommended Hyundai Kona Electric and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 3 years (5 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People like its build quality, interior, and physical buttons, and find it a decent used buy. Common caveat: gearbox and motor bearing problems that are tricky to fix.

## Why people recommend it

- Physical buttons and controls (3 comments): "There are physical controls for the temperature and volume, and the door handles aren't stupid." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49834545)) "Hyundai kona actually has an insane amount of physical buttons, around 50" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48826122)) "Hyundai EVs have physical buttons for everything important." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47868557))
- Good value as a used car (3 comments): "considering you can buy newish used ones for under 15k, its not a bad deal if it fits your needs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47396382)) "You can get a used Hyundai Kona EV from Hyundai for under £15k." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49874725)) "A big step up from my old Ford fiesta, just look for the deals" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49871786))
- Enjoyed by repeat EV owners (2 comments): "I have had two EVs in the last three years - a Kona and an IONIQ 5. I have greatly enjoyed them both." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47480809)) "I have greatly enjoyed them both" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47470793))
- Feels like a great everyday EV (2 comments): "Great car and great EV but you could easily mistake it for the gas version if you weren't paying attention." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48029578)) "those were perfectly reasonable cars for the vast majority of actual needs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49835812))

## What people warn about

- Gearbox and motor bearing problems (3 comments): "the gearbox and motor bearings issue can be tricky to fix" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47396616)) "you wanna search about kona's gearbox and iccu's beforehand." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46159634)) "Older ones (Kona) has reduction gear with some design flaw" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45948972))
- Several button presses to start (2 comments): "Three buttons just to start the car and I need to lock it myself." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48596653)) "3 button presses just to start driving" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49836345))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Tesla vehicles](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tesla-vehicles.md): 209 recommend
- [BYD electric cars](https://hackerapproved.com/p/byd.md): 157 recommend
- [Ferrari Luce](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ferrari-luce.md): 140 recommend
- [Tesla Model 3](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tesla-model-3.md): 128 recommend
- [Rivian electric vehicle](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rivian.md): 73 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.hyundaiusa.com/us/en)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Hyundai Kona Electric", https://hackerapproved.com/p/hyundai-kona-electric/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).